8th Grade – World History & Cultures Ms. Sweeney

Name ______Date ______

Slideshow Notes: From Old Stone Age to Neolithic Revolution

1. Humans belong to the hominid family:

e.g., Australopithecus and Homo. Only species not extinct is us! 

______, which means ______hominid characteristics = large brain, small face, and bipedalism ______

Most famous hominid discovery = ______.

How did she get her name?

2. Theories of migration:

a) Radiation theory:

b) Parallel Evolution theory:

3. Time periods:

a) Paleolithic period =

Most hominids were nomads ______

Practiced animism ______b) Neolithic period =

______= long period of time before ppl invented writing.

______= transition from nomadic life to settled farming.

Early farmers ______plants and animals, i.e. ______

______

4. Dramatic changes during the Neolithic Revolution :

• First villages established due to farming. • Work divided by gender and age. • Men began to dominate family, economic, and political life. [Has that changed today?] • Scarce food meant increased warfare. • Warrior class gained prestige and power. • Settled people accumulated more wealth resulting in differences in wealth. • New technologies = calendar, oxen to plow fields, clay pottery, weavings, etc.

5. Dating methods:

Historians rely on artifacts ( ______) to learn more about how people lived during this time because there was no written record in prehistory.

a) ______:

• Similar objects (e.g., pottery) grouped according to style • Older artifacts found at lower levels than newer ones • Use age of geologic features at site

b) ______:

• All living things contain carbon-14, a radioactive element that decays at a set rate.

• Carbon-14 levels are used to date remains of ______.

e.g., ______